I'm taking on the TCS London Marathon to support Julia’s House, my local children’s hospice. Running 26.2 miles (42 km) through London will be a huge physical and mental challenge, requiring months of training, dedication and determination.

Julia’s House provides specialist care for children with life-limiting and complex conditions, helping families make precious memories together. Their amazing nurses and carers bring expert clinical care, fun, laughter and compassion to the children they support, while giving parents a vital lifeline through much-needed respite and support. As a charity, Julia’s House relies heavily on donations to continue providing this lifeline to local families across Dorset and Wiltshire.

My son, Tom, was born very premature and the first few weeks of his life was a bewildering and, at time, frightening period for me and my wife. Fortunately, Tom suffered no adverse effects. However, it made us realise how lucky we were and, for others, the outcomes can be very different with their child having life-threatening conditions. I recently donated some inheritance money to Julia’s House as I wanted to support a charity that, was not only local to us, but whose mission and vision resonate so well for our family. Running the London Marathon is my way of raising further money for this incredibly important local charity.

Please support my London Marathon challenge if you can. Every donation, big or small, will help Julia’s House continue to be there for children and families when they need it most.

As part of your donation message, please guess what time you think it will take me to complete the London Marathon. My goal is for about 4 hours. After the marathon, I will match the donation of the three people with the closest guesses to my actual time!!

Thank you for your support!